Life-changing moment recalled at Stonington High School graduation

Stonington - An incident last Friday not only changed Haley Barravecchia's graduation speech but also her outlook on life.

Barravecchia, the Stonington High School senior class president, was trapped in her car after a crash on Route 78 and said she saw her life pass before her eyes before she blacked out.

"I thought it was over. I wouldn't be at graduation today," she told her fellow 171 graduates who gathered on the football field for Thursday night's commencement ceremony.

When she regained consciousness in the hospital, she said she heard doctors and nurses whispering about whether she was "the Route 78 girl" and how they thought she didn't make it.

"We all have to value what we have because it could be gone in an instant," she said while standing before her classmates. "Life is precious."

"Whatever you want to do, go and do it. Don't let anything stop you," she told her classmates.

Barravecchia, who will attend Belmont University, said she may have to give up some things because of her injuries. "But I won't let that stop me. We all have things in our way. Don't let that stop you."

Salutatorian John Dong said he still does not know what he wants to be in life, but there are a lot of things he would like to try for a day, such as being an Aeropostale model, a rapper or the leader of North Korea.

He said teachers have always told students they can be whatever they want, but he said that's not true.

"I can try as long as I want, and I won't get pregnant," he joked.

"We are limited in what we can do, but our possibilities outweigh the limitations," said Dong, who will attend New York University.

Class speaker Abby Gibney, who is retiring as a physical education teacher and coach after 42 years, had asked seniors what life lessons they had learned at the high school and what they wanted to hear in her speech. She used those as the focus of her remarks.

The one students mentioned over and over was that hard work pays off, she said.

"I'm glad to see that," she said.

She left graduates with the email or text she sends her two grown children in Colorado every day: "Have fun, stay safe and I love you."

Valedictorian Matthew Fields, who will attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, poked fun at all the cliches used in graduation speeches but ended using some of them by the end of his remarks.

On a more serious note, he told the students that while Stonington High School is a great school, their experiences at the school will not earn them any special treatment anywhere else.

"You have to be determined enough to add experiences to your resume," he said. "Go out and do what you want to do and make the experiences at Stonington High School mean something. What you and I have to do is be special on our own."